AELE LAW LIBRARY OF CASE SUMMARIES:
Corrections Law for
Jails, Prisons and Detention Facilities
Furlough
A Vermont prisoner
claimed that his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights were violated
by the revocation of his furlough or conditional re-entry status. Noting
that no court has previously held that Vermont's conditional re-entry program
vests a prisoner with a constitutionally protected liberty interest, a
federal appeals court held that the defendants were entitled to qualified
immunity, as the law on the subject was not clearly established in 2005,
the date of the revocation. Ladd v. Thibault, #09-4589, 2010 U.S. App.
Lexis 24848 (Unpub. 2nd Cir.).
Prisoner on furlough
from county jail was still in the county's custody, so that the county
was liable for his reasonable medical expenses if he was indigent. North
Brevard County Hospital District v. Brevard County Board of County Commissioners,
#5D04-2178, 899 So. 2d 1200 (Fla. App. 5th Dist. 2005). [N/R]
Courts exceeded their statutory authority
by granting short-term releases to three inmates in separate cases allowing
them to attend to personal business, which constituted modifications of
sentencing not authorized by a specific provision of state law, as did
an order that a prisoner be released from custody to spend the remainder
of her sentence in treatment facility. The judges arrogated to themselves
the power to grant prison furloughs--a power that could only be exercised
by correctional officials, improperly interfering with matters that are,
"by law, entrusted to the discretion of the Department of Corrections."
State of Alaska v. Felix, Nos. A-7885, A-7886, A-07887, 50 P. 3d 807 (Alaska
App. 2002). [N/R]
230:20 Denial of inmate's request
for furlough to visit his brother on his deathbed or to attend his brother's
funeral did not violate his constitutional rights. Hipes v. Braxton, 878
F.Supp. 56 (W.D.Va. 1995).
232:54 Members of sheriff's department not
liable for kidnapping and rape of woman by violent criminal given weekend
pass from county jail. Lovins v. Lee, 53 F.3d 1208 (11th Cir. 1995).
Woman who was beaten, raped, and sodomized
by inmate on work release could not recover damages from state when there
was no prior evidence of inmate's propensity for violence and therefore
no foreseeability that he would attack someone while on work release. Cox
v. State, 844 S.W.2d 173 (Tenn. App. 1992).
Prisoner had no due process liberty interest
in participating in furlough program and therefore was not entitled to
a hearing prior to suspension from the program. Bowser v. Vose, 968 F.2d
105 (1st Cir. 1992).
Inmate had no constitutional right to attend
his father's funeral unescorted by a deputy; requirement that inmate appear
there in prison clothing and in leg restraints and handcuffs did not violate
federal law or Florida state law. Farmer v. Crews, 804 F.Supp. 1516 (M.D.
Fla. 1992).
Correctional department and officials were
not liable for inmate's attempted sexual assault on store cashier while
he was out on leave; decision to grant leave was discretionary and state
employees are immune for injuries covered by workers' compensation, which
cashier's injuries were. Barkley v. Corrections Div., 111 Or. App. 48,
825 P.2d 291 (1992).
Woman whose husband was murdered by an offender
who escaped from a work furlough program can sue state for negligence,
Ohio Supreme Court rules. Crawford v. Div. of Parole & com. Serv.,
57 Ohio St. 3d 184, 566 N.E.2d 1233 (1991).
Inmate had no constitutionally protected
right for leave to attend his stepfather's funeral. Merritt v. Broglin,
891 F.2d 169 (7th Cir. 1989).
State and prison officials not liable for
furloughed prisoner's shooting of eyewitness to armed robbery. Moore v.
Com., Dept. of Justice, 538 A.2d 111 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1988).